Friday, September 26, 2014

The Art Of Terrible Internet Moderation - A How To

The other day I wrote a post called 'Outlander, Breasts And Being A Judgmental Asshole'. It came into creation after a friend of mine was booted out of a Facebook group after she spoke up about the hypocrisy of tolerating, if not encouraging, the bashing of an actress, but deleting comments, threads and people for being far less negative and cruel. This little blog of mine actually ended up being posted in the Outlander Series group, more than once, and spurred some deep, thoughtful and encouraging discussions about body-shaming, moderation, and the less than favourable side of fans and fandom.

But the post was removed from OS. The admins of the page didn't like the blog because they thought it painted them in an unfavourable light. Okay, I might have made a comment about there being control freaks at the helm of the ship with their whips of censorship lashing out at whoever disobeys their commands. It made for colourful writing, but it was a side point to a much bigger issue - body-shaming, both doing it and condoning it. After over seventy comments on my blog, I came to realize a lot of people felt the way I did, and I was pleased to provide a platform where people could openly communicate without suffering the consequences of warnings or being banned.

Now, I could be irritated about having my blog removed and an important discussion being thrown out because of someone's ego, but that isn't how I roll. Instead, I've come up with a how-to for anyone interested in perfecting the art of terrible internet moderation.

So, here they are, five steps to being an atrocious administrator, as learned by a couple of the Outlander Series moderators:

1. Make it personal!

It is unacceptable to allow comments, posts or people who disagree with the admins. If you don't like it, delete it! This is a dictatorship, after all, and the only thing that matters is the opinions of those in charge. Discussions are only healthy and encouraged if they aren't showing you in an unflattering light. Instead of fixing the problems and striving to resolve issues that crop up, it is best to ignore, ban, and block. Appeal to the masses, remind them how much 'crap' you put up with, and ensure they stay in line. If they step out, eradicate the weed before it spreads.

2. If you are having a bad day, take it out on unsuspecting strangers.

Long week? No patience? People annoying you? Just delete them! As an admin, it is your God given right to delete whoever you want, whenever you want. Someone is arguing with you? Remove them. Don't like someone's comment? Delete it. Patience running thing? Ban the next person who talks back to you! The beauty of being in control is you can do whatever you want, no repercussions!

3. Be deceitful.

It is perfectly okay to lie, cheat, and participate in trickery. First, start out by asking people to come to you if they have any problems or concerns. When they do, disagree with what they tell you, and ban them. Then, ask other people if they have the same issues as the person you banned, try and trick them into being open and honest with you, when they fall for your trap, give them the boot! This way you can eliminate anyone who doesn't think and feel as you do. They say variety is the spice of life, but when controlling the masses you want everyone to obey and conform. Don't worry if this seems like a childish antic, in the end you will be more powerful.

4. Reiterate the rules.

There are rules for a reason, to make your life easier. These rules are subject to change at your whim. It is not okay to talk poorly about an admin, but body-shaming a celebrity is perfectly acceptable. Make it clear who is in charge. The minions are nothing. Keep them underneath you. Bowed and broken is the only way you will successfully manage a group of heathens. Remove anyone and anything that contradicts the rules of the group and your own personal rules. If you let one person stand up to you, they all will stand up to you. The first warning should always be the last as well.

5. Restrictions. Restrictions. Restrictions.

The last rule of Moderators Club is to not let anyone talk about ... well, anything you don't want them to. Restrictions are the key to a complacent crowd. Discussions should include limitations on things that annoys you, opposing opinions, disagreements about the way your page is being run, off topic remarks, hijacks, cute animals, weather reports from Wisconsin, Outlander drinking games, uncertainty and past members. Once a member is booted or banned, they are basically dead, so you must ensure they are never brought up again. Ever.

All kidding aside, when you opt to become a moderator or administrator, all personal beliefs and thoughts should be put to the side and governing should involve a modicum of rationality. There is a certain objectiveness needed to fulfill your all and powerful duties. Take my blog for example. Yes, this is MINE, but I encourage people to discuss and interact, I like others to disagree with me, because Devil's Advocate is my best friend, and sometimes I want to be proven wrong. Yes, OS has a fan page of over thirty-four thousand people, but out of all those followers there are only a hundred or so who are regularly active. For the most part, the majority doesn't interact, which is probably a relief for them right about now.

Still, there are those who considered this place a community,who were there from the very beginning, and were mistreated by those 'in charge'. They suffered abuse, then were booted, often for nothing more than disagreeing with someone or voicing their concerns. When it comes to the management of the OS page, it's clear at least two of those in charge are suffering from a mad case of the power hungries. But why am I saying this? After all, I am not in the boat, I don't want to be in the boat, and I will, most likely, never be accepted into the OS boat. Because I am tired of seeing people abusing the system and mistreating others, especially when they are supposed to be setting an example. I am saying this because a friend of mine has been punished for being a good person. Because this sort of controlling behaviour is ridiculous and unacceptable. Keeping people in line by threatening to get rid of them is a fear tactic.

Granted, this does bring up one interesting question, what can you do when the moderators become the trolls?

Laugh. Shrug. And leave the group, I suppose. In the end, you can shout, complain, and bitch, but it's all up against a brick wall, and the brick wall just doesn't care. Always remember, everything you say is saved on the internet. Just because you delete it doesn't mean it goes away. Between caches, screen shots, and transcripts, you truly can't get rid of the stupid things you do, drunk or not. The internet is public domain.

To me this blog shows you're taking the deletion of your blog a tad personal yourself....You may of had a better point towards the end, idk since I didn't bother to finish it....This just proves to me that you are no better than the behavior you are bashing....

this is hilarious, im not sure which planet you came from, but sadly there are rules in everyday society and its not free. everything comes with a price and rules, and as the group grows the rules change (the one post had rules stated since it was to to be for people who had an opposing few than the crowd so they wouldn't get ganged up on which you failed to mention). the group is supposed to be fun, and if you dont follow the rules of course you get in trouble. its the same on the outside world.

get over it, and find a group thats better suited for you. for you to call it our shows how childish you are, and no better than what your calling out.

I feel like it's your first time in forums. Like this is standard for groups forums etc. Actually many of the rules are rules i've adopted from many of my favorite groups.

I actually try and chat things thru, where as in some of my favorite groups on reddit, if your banned your banned and you never really get a reason as o what you did.

When you have a group of 30,000 people you need to have rules.

Also I love how you left off the most vile comments from you in those screenshots. Here is a quote from you that you left off "Why are you letting that cunt ruin your group? It used to be fun until you allowed her to become a dictator." (if anyone wants to see the full conversation just let me know but this comment will probably be deleted.

I hate being bullied and there is a small group of people are really do enjoy it with this articles, screenshots out of context etc etc.

This group had minimal rules a year ago. Yes, the membership has grown, but the addition of ONE person as admin who cannot take any criticism has ruined the entire page. She already destroyed another large page she admined. I've left this group because I would have ended up being one of the banned or walking on eggshells to try not to be banned. That's no way to run a group. There are no "moderators" in this group. No mediation, no discussion. If you still like the group, good for you. I say, watch your back. I was in good with both admins at one time, too. All it takes is ONE WRONG "LIKE".

Thank you for being the voice of many. I was banned from this group with no warning. Do I miss this particular group? Hell no! I have since found other groups that are much more enjoyable and allow real discussions.

What stands out to me here is an admin who admitted to setting up the group members so he can kick them out if they give him the wrong answer. His numbers are large but so is his ego. How many people did Mr. Admin beg to come over here and support him? Yeah, like the last time someone called OS out on their crap and he asked people to step up for him and OS. Those that stepped up, risking being banned from other groups with their defense of him and OS, are the SAME people the female Fuhrer systematically harassed and ultimately got rid of. Too much competition for her? Afraid they'd open his eyes to see she is using OS as her own personal platform and to fulfill a bizarre need for control and power? The people who were loyal to him were of no use once the membership numbers grew large enough. I couldn't care less for myself but people being treated in a shabby manner pisses me off. You people defending him don't know the whole story so don't be so quick to assume.There are so many Outlander groups, many that embody what a fan site should be. Outlander Series is not one of them.

Sorry, Alex, but I'm not buying it. Your rules are extreme. Removing anyone who challenges your authority or questions you is a dictatorship. You are to be held to a higher standard, and you are coming up short. You have removed far more people than you are willing to admit, including several from yesterday who had nothing to do with this 'small group' who are 'bullying' you. All they did wrong was speak up about the importance of my first blog, which you only removed because it painted you in an unfavourable light. You personally fixated on the paragraph about bad moderation and completely ignored the rest of the article about body shaming - a very real and frightening trend that needs to be addressed.

I love how you take the time to defend yourself here but you had zero to add to the important body shaming blog. You might have over 30000 members but both of us know it is a very small precentage who actually comment and interact. You are making irrational and personal decisions, not for the betterment of the group but as a show of power.

I think the group is amazing but there definitely are unjust decisions being made. You can keep posting in OS about how you're being targeted but you need to come to terms with your own special brand of moderation bullying that seems to be at an all time high right now.

I would like to point out that it's not a big deal that the blog was deleted after several members posted it on OS, it's been posted on just about every other Outlander Fan group there is, including DG's, a few times. They can threaten and control people in their group, but they don't own the entire interwebz. The lady admin ran around trying to save face and twisted her story quite a bit. The only problem for her is that, many of the groups already knew the kind of person the lady admin was. She had already been banned from a few of them for her previous behavior as a member in those groups. When Alex announced the appointment of this new admin...hundreds of OS members pm'd him expressing concern. He ignored the vast majority of these PM's and instead chose to refer to them collectively as "really lame". He claims that if you have an issue, all you have to do is pm an admin. Well it sort of makes it difficult when the issues are with his beloved co-admin, and he has been sharing his pm's with her and others, so why can't everyone else do the same. So in actuality, when they say to "pm an admin with your concerns", what they really mean is, "let us quietly add you to our 'members to kick out' list" What they both have failed to realize is that the Outlander fan base is overlapping and far reaching. There are 1,000's of groups, most with multiple over lapping members, and people talk, and they can be really organized when they need be. It's great that they can brag about having the largest Outlander fan group, it's too bad that most of those people aren't active members. Alex and Jason got lucky and snagged the name first, woohoo. It's also too bad that the most respected and influential groups don't include OS in anything they do collectively. There's a reason for that. There's also a reason why the admins of OS don't get special VIP treatment like the other admins do. They don't respect DG, there's a funny little fanfic post we could discuss and Alex's comments regarding DG and how he feels about her opinion, perhaps another day. All I have to say is, this is your bed, now go to sleep.

I, personally left that group months ago. The reasons were varied, but include the fact that very little fun or frivolity is allowed whatsoever.

You wait years for the next book and then months for the series to premiere, but all that was allowed was the same old comments OVER, and OVER, and OVER again. It was redundant, juvenile, and just extremely boring there.

Not to mention the aforementioned comments about walking on EGGSHELLS. Don't step out of line. Don't be funny. Do not ever say anything that is not the standard party line as if the book series was the BIBLE, not a wonderful, thought-provoking work of fiction.

Yet, certain people's memes were quite offensive and off-color actually, and that was OK as long as it was certain people.

I too wish to remain anonymous. That should tell you all you need to know about the moderators of Outlander Series. The group has had a bad reputation since its beginning due to the originator using it to data mine. Nonetheless, I was a loyal and active participant until recently when the power mad admin came on board. I find it curious that of the lengthy list of rules on the page, she has broken almost all of them..including "blouncing", piracy advocacy and off topic posts. The purpose of her participation seems to be getting rid of those who disagree with her, and selling her own products. And while Alex asks those who have concerns to PM him, when one does, he blows the concerns off, or uses the information for banning. The pair of them should spend the time they are using justifying themselves on fixing the problem. Not that I care. I have left the group as well.

Alex is pissed and is letting OS know about it. He just posted this: Message from your mod. There is a small group of people who have taken to bully me, write articles, tweet what ever. I'm a tough kid so I don't mind, they can keep writing articles about how horrible of a group this is or how harsh the rules are. I'm okay with that so if you see something posted by them just know I'm already aware of it and it doesn't bother me. My only concern is that this group stay a fun place to discuss Outlander. Love you all and hope you have an amazing weekend!

Ironic that Alex just made a post about a small group trying to bully him. I bet if we took a poll, every single one of these people who are 'picking on him' are the same ones who have repeatedly stood up for him and OS when they were attacked by other groups.

Alex, really, you know this, OS hasn't been fun in months. It's a damned shame, because not only was it the biggest Outllander group on FB, but it was also the most fun, with the least rules and you had members there that would go to the mat for you on any given night.

No one is bullying you or your group, although I can see why you might feel attacked, as people are doing just as you ask and contacting you when they have a problem with the group. No parent likes to hear that their baby is ugly.

The issue that brought this to a head was the continuos body shaming in your co-moderator's thread and when members went to you for help, you blew them off. Really Alex, all you had to do was either delete the posts that were body shaming the actress in question or asked Denise to remove them. Those types of posts broke one of your own rules, after all and should have been removed, without requests. So much drama would have been avoided if a simple and reasonable request had been granted.

Your rules are not strict. OS is probably one of the least strict groups I have ever been a member of, however your rules can be arbitrary and change as it suits the mood of the moderator.

Alex you are a really good guy, I have no doubt, and we have had some great conversations in the past. I just think you have made a mistake at relying on one person to help you with your group, a person you have actually booted out, in the past for breaking rules. I hope that you will see the wisdom in getting more moderators to help you. 35,000 is a lot of personalities to manage and it's become obvious that Denise does not have a thick enough skin to be the only other person in charge.

I hung in OS for as long as I could. I had hoped to help guide it back on track, as a member, but the capricious and autocratic removal of members, some just booted for belonging to groups that don't like your group, was the final straw.

I wish you luck, I truly do and I hope things can get back on track at OS and it can once again be a fun place for ALL group members to spend time, without worrying about what they 'like' or what other groups they belong. Cheers!

I was one of those banned...no reason given, though I know why. I dared agree with dissenting posts with a "like". Early on in the new "regime" of the new admin, I sent a PM to Alex, and got no acknowledgement or reply to my concerns. I followed the rules: "When you have a group of 30,000 people you need to have rules."I've seen these rules for the year plus that I was on OS, Alex. More than one of them states to "message or contact an admin if you have issues". Many of us have done just that. We have been brushed aside and ignored. So what is the point of contacting an admin when we have an issue? You appear to be open to discussion, to be open to being contacted to resolve issues, and then you refuse to address the issues. In fact, you have referred to those who PM you as being "really, really lame". My advice to those still on OS...don't bother sending those PMs as NO ONE will reply. Even when a group of people gives you advice about the behavior of one particular person that they interact with day after day, you decided we were all "lame" and not deserving of a reply or a discussion about our concerns. Got headaches, lately, Alex? They could have been avoided if you had just listened and addressed the issues laid out before you. As someone else accurately said...you made your bed, now you can sleep in it.

Those "bullies" you're referring too are the ones that tried to follow your rule and come to you with concerns. You either irgnored them or told them their complaints were lame. The real problem is your female admin, how is she supposed to be a great choice to help you admin when before her promotion she would block people like crazy and then proceed to brag about blocking them and the stupid reason she did it. What kind of person blocks someone for "liking" a comment she didn't like, seriously. Then she abuses her admin powers by PM the members she didn't get along with and had blocked before her promotion by bitching at them over the stupidest things pretty much harrassing them. They complained and were told to avoid HER, how are they to avoid her if SHE PM's them without having to leave the group? These so called "bullies" are the ones who defended OS and Alex and when membership numbers jumped they got tossed to the side and shit on. If they want to treat members like that and allow the body bashing comments then I'm glad I'm no longer apart of that group.

Another outstanding post! Alex & Denise, you both should just give up. Your justifications just do not hold up, nor do your reputations. You have to ask yourself why Outlander Series is not afforded the same respect as other Outlander pages. While you're pondering that question, see if you can explain why Denise keeps getting kicked out and banned by so many pages, both Outlander and other fan sites. Cheers!

It's more than a little disingenuous, Alex, for you to post about being bullied. The people who are most vocal and the ones who are leaving were your most ardent defenders. Who betrayed who? I was a member for over a year. I rushed to your defense when the article slamming OS came out, and when other groups attacked you. We good-naturedly tolerated your hands off approach followed by your occasional "ban hammer". And one morning I woke up to find that a person (who I had also requested you let back in after banning) had been named moderator. Since that person had repeatedly blocked and bragged I had some concerns. You blew me off. Since then, I have watched her get increasingly carried away with her own power. Again, I tried to express my concerns. Again I was blown off. So..."pffft" to you and your dysfunctional group of losers.

Maybe your blog should be titled, How To Be An Attention Whore and make it all about how you are riding a wave of a bunch of booted out whiners trying to hurt a group that has (from what I see on the screen shot) almost 35,000 members. Your second post on this subject in just a few days? Stretch it baby suck it dry! I bet that site is getting bigger every day because of this attention. Looks like a LOT of people like that group despite your bashing it. Maybe its nice to have mods that ban assholes. I think I'll join too. Thanks for the tip!

I am a member of Outlander United (but am leaving it. too boring) and I remember Denise there. She was funny and had lots of funny memes. She never got banned from our group but left on her own because she would delete a meme she posted that had Sam and Claire dressed like Jesus and Mary. So funny! a couple of religious freaks asked her to take it down and complained and she refused and left. I know cause I asked her why she was gone after the mod asked her to delete it. Anyone says otherwise is full of shit. She said she got booted from HH though. Said she refused to unblock a mod there and had to go. Wow. How naughty. So much for getting nasty BOOTED! HA HA. I am on the OS group too and like it. I have had a few issues and have had Denise take care of them.She was polite and nice. No problems. She doesn't back down from bullies and she said in that one post that all attacked commenters (I was one) could say what they wanted under her protection. People like a few people commenting here tried hijacking her post and were deleted. Then banned I guess but probably for a good reason. I saw the same people hijacking over and over. Think that is against the rules. They are jelous they are not mod or have mod powers I think.THERE WAS NO BODY SHAMING in that post...just a few people saying her boobs were too small to be Claires like the book and too pushed in to look good. Over 380 comments and only like 5 people talked about boobs (I took a screen capture too)! Big deal. Body shaming is just an excuse to slam Denise. Jealousy is so ugly and so obvious. You are making fools of yourselfs. I like OS and man, Denise is FUNNY!

Anonymous, I'm glad Denise has such a stalwart supporter in you. I'm also glad you've never found yourself disagreeing on a very minor point with her. I hope you never do, because the fall out will no doubt hurt your feelings.

Unfortunately I do know, from experience, what can happen. I went to her as an OS 'friend' and asked her, repeatedly, to remove the body shaming posts in her thread. She refused, stating they were 'opinions' when they actually broke the rules of the OS FB page. When I pointed that out, to her and to Alex, I was booted. No explanations, no PMs from either one, just kicked out.

Oh, and BTW, I followed all the rules on OS. I also PMd my moderators as stated in the rules, because I had a problem with the group. All it got me was kicked out and then mocked by Alex in subsequent PMs from him. Denise never responded.

It could be some people have an axe to grind over some high-handedness over on OS, but my problem with the moderators was over the blatant body shaming that was allowed to be left on her thread. B-O-D-Y S-H-A-M-I-N-G only.

No, I don't think I'm making a fool of myself by posting my opinion, no I am not jealous and as to Denise being funny, humor is subjective.

I hope you can continue to enjoy your time on OS, just remember to only like what Denise likes and don't PM the moderators about any questions or problems you might have with the board, both will most likely have you on the outside of the group, scratching your head and trying to figure out what happened.

I just wanted to point out,the title "How to be an Attention Whore" may already be taken. I am pretty sure that is the code DSF lives by. I would direct you to the search option in OS, but all of DSF's attention whoring threads mysteriously disappeared shortly before she was made admin. Seems as if she likes to destroy evidence. Like a dirty politician cleaning out the closets before running for election. No worries, it is impossible for an attention whore to hide their true colors. Can someone ask DSF whatever happened to that awesome GoT group she took over? Also, Outlander United member, in case you have missed it, DSF is a compulsive liar who likes to manipulate people. Sorry you haven't caught on to that yet, but you will, everyone does eventually. We are no longer going to sit idly by while she treats people this way. There may be new members arriving to OS daily, many of those will realize that the place is run by 2 lunatics...Alejandro is Alex's other FB account, and Jason could really care less about OS, it was all about data mining, so that just leaves the attention whore, and her whipping boy. It's truly sad that's what OS has become. It was great in the beginning. Also, the large membership has nothing to do with the admins, it has to do with the fact that they grabbed the right title. There are thousands of members who joined because they thought it was actually affiliated with the show, there are thousands of members who walked away without officially leaving the group, there are thousands more who lurk just to see how effed up the place is...and then thousands who are watching, waiting for it's downfall. I am thinking that perhaps Alex should have listened to the hundreds of PM's he got the day he made the worst mistake of his Outlander related life. Well, I guess this is slightly better than when he commented that he didn't care about DG's opinion because OS was his page. I guess it's no wonder she steers clear of OS like it's the plague. Interesting, it's the world's largest Outlander fan group...right? Too bad the author of the books will have nothing to do with it. To me, that speaks volumes.

I'm a member of Outlander Series and like it very much. When you have a group of 34K people, you must have rules and you must have growing room as the group grows in number. I would NEVER want to be an admin/mod of OS. I don't have patience to deal with idiots, down-right nastiness of posts/comments, irate members, etc., etc. I was raised to have respect for rules/regulations, promises made and oaths taken. Society is full of socially unacceptable people and those people must be herded, like sheep. If you don't have any self-respect for yourself, you can't have any respect for others. In terms of the enormity of OS members, those who don't adhere to the terms of membership over and over and over again, WHAT THE HELL do you expect?! No one is threatening you bodily harm if you break the rules! LEAVE THE GROUP AND GO TO ANOTHER GROUP, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I have been attacked by so many members on this site that I've cried! One time and one time only did I PM Alex and he immediately answered me and fixed my problem. The rules state to scroll through comments or posts that you don't care for or block the person who offends you. Some of the members really don't care how hurtful their comments or posts are. They (damned well) know when they "enter" their declaration if it is directed as "mean" or "nasty" of derogatory in nature. THEY DON'T CARE or THEY WANT TO HURT THE PERSON. I stand up for Alex and the rules/regulations. Period. Amen. So be it.

Those of you sticking up for OS/Alex/Denise...I'm curious how long you've been there. I was there for a year and a half. I, too, stuck up for OS and Alex, many times. I also fought to get Denise back when she was banned in the beginning. But I and my friends were stabbed in the back for it. Enjoy OS. I did. Just be wary of who you give your loyalty too. That's what this is about. Loyalty. Not jealousy. We don't give a rat's ass who's admin. We just wanted fairness, and there IS NONE.

Anonymous, if you've actually cried over being attacked on the internet, maybe it's not the place for you?

I don't think you understand the problem here, the majority of now 'banned' members are the very ones who have supported Alex and OS for almost 2 years.

This isn't about 'Alex is mean' or 'OS sux', it's about how the rules have to be followed by some members, but not others and it's how the moderators have put themselves above their own rules.

Anyone got a scorecard? It's hard to keep up with what rule is applicable on what day and which members are allowed to get away with body shaming and bashing and which ones are kicked out for going to a moderator, as they are instructed, for help and instead get kicked out.

ps: kicking out a member for belonging to another Outlander group that Alex and Denise don't like or for "liking" a comment that another member has made that doesn't suit Alex or Denise at that given moment seems to be a pretty immature response.

I had heard something like what is mentioned above... people were removed for simply joining other groups where negative things about OS were said, even though they themselves had not said anything. Their only crime was in joining the group. That smacks of cyber blackmail. "You will belong to only the groups I like"When the moderators start acting like Mean Girls it's time to get out of Dodge.

I left that particular page just recently after being in it for quite a while. I respect rules, but they must be applied to everyone, not a select few. Things were taken too personally and it felt like a vendetta was being waged. It became awkward and frankly creepy. One never knew why their thread was taken down or their comments deleted. I won't point particular fingers, but the creator of that page should really evaluate his recent actions. I believe some critique of his page is necessary for him and others to see what it has turned into. FB is fun, and I have met some of the best people on that page, but I no longer feel comfortable on that page. It is a real shame, and bravo to Tee for coming right out and saying it like it is.

Hello Anonymous. (What a lovely name!) I cannot possibly address all manipulated half-truths and childish nonsense you and your followers spew here, so please, come read my response to this drivel at Parca's Chosen, a blog that can boast an author with a real name and honest content. The post is called 'OUTLANDER: A Rebuttal To A Wee Coward and Her Sheep. Cheers! :)

I don't want to read the crap you post on OS, so I can bet I wouldn't be interested at all in your "blog". But I'm not surprised at all that you are crass enough to post a link on someone else's blog. Tooting your own horn again. It's gotten old.

I am guessing this comment is for me, though you are addressing anonymous. My name is on my blog. Actually, it's on every post I've ever penned.

I find it interesting you've stopped by, let alone written a blog about all this. I thank you for the time and energy. Unfortunately, I can't read your most likely long winded but meticulously crafted blog because I am now reading the Outlander series. I shall swing by your blog after I am finished ... about eight books from now.

Don't worry, I will leave your comment and link here to demonstrate to you what proper moderation is.

welp morbid curiosity got the better of me...I managed to make my way through Denise's terribly exciting blog. I do feel really bad for that anonymous poster up there who said that they were also a member of "Outlander United". I feel bad because Denise pretty much copied most of the content from your comment and stuck it in her blog. That's not exactly new for her though, running away with other people's ideas. Unless of course, you both made the same mistake of calling the group by the wrong name, "Outlander United". I guess it's possible, or maybe, just maybe that's just Denise up there claiming to be the "Outlander United" member who is commenting anonymously. hhhmmm...

Sheep huh? So what do we use to refer to the poor misguided souls who think you're funny or a good admin? Lemmings? As it is now, I scroll past your drivel on OS so fast it's scary. I'll pass on reading your blog. I don't need my mind numbed today. Typical how you wanted to pat yourself on the back on someone else's blog though. I bet your arms hurt from doing all that patting.

Rats! I didn't realize Mrs. Fries junked me and April here too! I related what _really_ transpired (in my group, not April's) on the other blog article by Tee. Just think, neither April nor I are going around spreading half-truths about Mrs. Fries. Carry on. Ms. Pippin, An American.

Alex Garcia moderating a group is like my toddler playing Mario Kart. Constantly running into walls, not paying enough attention to follow the flow of traffic, stomping and pouting when he doesn't win, the whole time demanding to be Mario, when he clearly can only handle The Princess.

Left OS a long time ago - when they found out what we had to say about them, anyone in our group that also belonged to OS were banned. Alex came into our group to discuss it, then left without saying anything of moment. rofl Lands Ho is the name of our Outlander group and we'd love to have you. :) Thank you for the well-written and amusing blog post.

Just stumbled onto this and am just smiling like crazy. After my last snotty pm from Denise I just unfollowed the group and have found that a month later I don't muss it a bit. Belong to several other lovely Outlander groups and have had none if the ire raising experiences as on OS. Guessing it time to just dump it. Enough if their BS. Thanks for confirming my thoughts.